Shattered Resistance
by BlackRoseApocalyps
Summary: When Mutant Underground has been betrayed from the inside, and the future for mutants stands at risk, will the resistance Michael and Marianne formed in secret stand a chance? CHAPTER 7 UP
1. Sidney says hi

**_Disclaimer_: I don't own the X-Men, only a whole lot of mess, a whole bunch of OC's I pumped into this story, you should know them by know if you read my previous stories in this serie, and the plot. I do so love the plot. This disclaimer stands for the entire story, unless otherwise stated at the beginning of the chapter.  
  
WARNING: This story is the 4th in my Mutant Underground Universe, you should read Just a Girl, Fighting Destiny, Vacation and perhaps I can't give up if you want to understand my characters. I also have permission to use Agent-G's OC's named Vincent, Mary, Benny, Jack and Jill for this.**

* * *

A/N: I'd also like it if you read Agent-G's works, he is writing a story set in this universe, at (up and about) the same time as this story.  
  
Agent-G: Well, I hope I live up to expectations with this. And yeah, that scene would be very funny, though I'm also partial to the one when Shadow hears that Marianne is engaged to Michael (cough) big-borther-syndrom (cough)

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_**Shattered Resistance - Sidney says hi  
**_  
Marianne was violently shaken out of her research by an alarm going of. An alarm she had hoped never to hear. The alarm that meant that the betrayal she, Michael, Sidney, Desiree and a few others had found out about. With her hands shaking, she pressed the button that would set of the alarm through-out the entire safehouse.  
  
Marianne took of her lab-coat and grabbed her cell-phone, dialing the first number, Xavier's.  
  
"Sidney says hi," she said as soon as she heard Xavier speak and hung up. That was the warning she had told him she would use. So much was contained withing those three words. 'You need to evacuate now' 'People will get killed' 'You need to survive'. Not noticing that she was crying, Marianne dialed the next number, repeating the three words, as did she with the next, and the next. She lost track of how many.  
  
She saw her computers shutting down, good. Michael was destroying every tid-bit of data they had. It wouldn't do much good, Marianne realised, they probably had infiltrated the top of Mutant Underground as well.  
  
When the last person was called, she threw the phone with shattering force against the wall, making sure it would be of no further use. She took out the bat she kept hidden under her desk, they could take no risk and even though she was destroying years worth of information, she did not waver as she swung the bat, did not wince when it crashed through her computer, but she did cry.  
  
Tears were shed for the lives that would be ruined, wasted like it was nothing.  
  
Down stairs, Marianne realised, Ben was doing the very same thing, destroying his research. Not one scrap of data would be left for those haters to benefit from.  
  
More and more rage was let out by her strikes, glass shattered, untill finally, worn out, tired and done with crying, Marianne swung the bat through the room, before crumbling to the ground.  
  
Why was this happening? Why did they let it happen? All they wanted was to be left alone, to be left to live in peace.  
  
"Ssssh," Marianne heard Michael's voice as he embraced her, "we'll make it, Anne. I need you to be strong for a bit more, we have to tell the refugees that they are being evacuated."  
  
"We'll make it," Marianne repeated, drawing strength from him being close to her.  
  
Marianne would also be evacuated. Neither of them knew where, it was safer that way. Michael would go and fight, defend safehouses under attack.  
  
"I hope Shadow is alright," Marianne found herself saying, she even found herself hoping that Pietro would be allright, and she couldn't stand the guy!  
  
"Shadow is an idiot with more luck then is good for him. Ofcourse he'll be allright," Michael shot her a grin, but it didn't reach his eyes.  
  
Marianne could see that he was worried for her. Not knowing what to say, she got to her feet, took his hand and went to instruct the refugees. But how could they say that the one organization they had trusted to provide them with safety had been infiltrated and betrayed from the inside out?  
  
There was no easy way to bring it, no way to soften the blow and for once, no one turned to 'mom' or 'dad' to make it all better, because everyone could see that this was too big. They would try, but that was all they could do.  
  
After announcing the impending evacuation, Marianne and Michael retreated to discuss things with the team. Ben, Sarah, Tank and Luka.  
  
"We can't take everyone at once," Ben stated as soon as the couple was seated, "we don't have enough room in the jet."  
  
"How many do you need to leave behind?" Michael asked, "you can come back for them. Look, I know this may sound harsh, and it is, I know. We can't save everyone, we have to try and save as many as we can, but in the end, people will be killed. Leave those who don't want to be saved. We would only waste precious time on them we need to save those who want to be saved."  
  
"We all understand, Michael. We don't like it, but we understand and will keep to it," Luka said with a resigned nod.  
  
"We need to leave five, we'll come back for them, but even without the five, we would still have more people on then we have seats," Ben continued.  
  
"Then I volunteer to stay behind, four more," Marianne immediately said, a sharp glare around the table convinced everyone to go along with that.  
  
"Then I'll stay too," Sarah stated before Marianne could object, "You're not a fighter, Marianne, I am. Three more."  
  
Luka moved to volunteer, but Marianne was too fast.  
  
"No, Luka, Ben needs a co-pilot. That's you. We'll ask the refugees for volunteers," the younger doctor shook her head, her voice left no room to argue.  
  
"Tank and I are needed for defending safehouses. We'll be leaving after you and Luka leave with the first batch. And from now on, everyone who has a codename shall go by it, for as long as this may take," Michael added.  
  
This statement was followed by grim nodds. Of the table, only Luka did not have a codename and Tank had taken his codename as his name.  
  
'We look as if we're preparing for war,' Marianne mused with some bitterness.  
  
_- = With Xavier = -  
_  
"That's everyone, professor," Jean walked towards the professor, "Storm is already at the island making sure everything runs smoothly and..."  
  
"We can't leave!" Jean was interrupted by Samantha's cry, Jean blinked surprised: she had just left Samantha at the island they were taking refuge to. The girl must have snuck on board again, she concluded.  
  
"Why can't we leave?" Jean turned to the girl.  
  
"Marianne and Michael ain't here yet! We can't leave them," Samantha sniffled at the thought of leaving her two caretakers behind.  
  
"Sam, Michael and Marianne told us to leave, they're probably already some where safe. And what are you doing here? Scott and I just took you to the island!" the redhead turned to look at the child.  
  
"I... uh... kinda snuck back on," Samantha ducked her head, but then looked up again, "are you sure they're safe?"  
  
The look in the child's eyes was older then her years, and an intense fear carried inside of it to have harm come to those she cared for.  
  
"I'm sure they're doing the best they can, Sam," Jean tried to evade the question and started to follow the professor into the jet, but the eight year old would have none of it.  
  
"Gimme an answer," she trailed after Jean, "gimme an answer now or I'll... I'll... I'll tell Kurt who warned Scott about the purple haircolouring in his shampoo!"  
  
Jean froze in her track and turned around: "You wouldn't..."  
  
"Uhuh! I would!" Samantha put her hands on her hips and tried to glare at Jean.  
  
"Allright, I'll tell you what I know. Just don't tell anyone about that. What I know is that Marianne will be pulling duty at another evacuation post as doctor, I don't know what Michael is supposed to do, I'm guessing that he'll be protecting one of the evacuation posts," Jean smiled sadly at the young girl.  
  
"They have to save more people," just like that, the child's eyes showed her true age again as she firmly believed that Marianne and Michael would save more people.  
  
_- = Back with Marianne and Michael = -  
_  
"You two be carefull, allright?" Marianne looked at the two other men who would be leaving.  
  
"You know us," Tank grinned.  
  
"Tank, for as long as I've known you, you've NEVER been carefull," she punched him on the arm.  
  
"I'll keep him in line, Fantasy, don't worry. When this all is over, we'll be together, and we'll get married," Michael pulled her close to him, resting his head against hers.  
  
"Everything will be fine," Marianne said softly, a small smile spreading on her face, "now get going, the sooner we finish this, the better."  
  
"Yes," Michael let go and smiled at her, "I love you, Fantasy, make sure you stay safe. And remembere, you have to be strong."  
  
"I am strong, Gun," Marianne shook her head, "I'll be strong for as long as I need to be. And I love you too."  
  
"Tank, if ya get hurt, not even your invulnerability will save ya from me," Sarah meanwhile half glared at the other man.  
  
"Your concern is touching," Tank laughed, everything will be fine. Those guys won't know what hit 'm."  
  
And with that, they left, leaving Marianne and Sarah with the last three refugees, waiting for their evacuation. 


	2. Arizona 2 under attack 1

Agent-G: Well, basically, the last chapters of Vacation can be considered a set-up. I like catching people by surprise. It's my nature.  
  
Fire inu: glad you like 'm -  
  
A/N: Vincent belongs to Agent-G!!!

* * *

**_Shattered Resistance - Arizona 2 under attack, 1  
_**  
Marianne was pacing around, worried sick. Tired, scared and worried. She feared for the safety of everyone she knew. Shadow was most likely still with Vincent, good. If they ran into trouble, Shadow could hold his own, could help Vincent protect the others. God, she hoped he was still with them.  
  
Ofcourse Shadow was an annoyance extraordinare, thought before he acted and generally had too much luck then was good for him, well, that depended how you looked at it. From what she had heared from Xavier and her other friends, Shadow still kept in touch with them. Though usually leaving quickly to escape Logan, somehow, Shadow always managed to aggrevate Logan by just opening his mouth.  
  
"Please, Shadow, Vincent, keep C safe," she whispered. She didn't trust Shadow, her friend, and self appointed big brother, with a lot of things, but she did trust him with her life and that of those she cared for. What she knew of Vincent, she was sure that the only way anyone under his care would get hurt would be over his dead body, and considering the invulnerability part, the 'dead body' would be kinda dificult. Unless they had mutation-suppresors. O great, she was turning into a mom!  
  
"From now on, thinking is a big no, no time for 'mommy-act'... o great... no time for talking to myself either. That's the first sign of going loopy, and I have no time for being loopy," Marianne mumbled, if anyone heard her, they would, by now, be thoroughly convinced that she was as mad as a hatter.  
  
Marianne sat down with her back against the wall, resting her head in her hands. This was it. Underground had been her life, together with Michael, it had been all they ever saw themselves doing and it was now falling apart, crumbling.  
  
This was real terrific, Marianne thought sarcastically to herself. Here she was, in a safehouse, a safe safehouse, moping and feeling sorry for herself, while all her friends were in danger.  
  
That wouldn't do, not at all, she finally decided and got up, making her way to her and Michael's room. It was kinda childish, she thought, but if she didn't have the real Michael around, at least she could have something of him. After digging through their closet, she finally came out wearing one of his jackets, while abesntly playing with her engagement ring.  
  
She put the cellphone Ben had tinkered with in the pocket. It was really a nice thing. Unless you started it with a hidden button and dialed in a code, all the numbers were fake. She really should talk to Ben about that ability of his. She really should talk to him about how much James Bond he watched.  
  
"Fantasy, could you come to the security room, please," she heard Sarah's voice through the speaker-system in the house.  
  
"Now that can't be good," Marianne muttered, tugging at the jacket. It was rather silly, but just wearing the jacket made her feel a bit more safer, besides, it smelled like Michael. Or a Michael who needed a shower. Badly, she sniffled.  
  
Quietly, she made her way to the security room. The three who had staid behind with them, Rodney, TJ and Ashley, were playing pool. Rodney and TJ probably muttering about how a woman could beat them, but then again, Ashley was very good at pool. And brawling. And drinking. Marianne actually thought that Ashley staid behind because she hoped there would be a fight of some kind.  
  
"What's wrong, Gaia?" Marianne walked into the room, but immediately saw what was wrong.  
  
On the screen, she saw men gathering, preparing to attack a safehouse. Their safehouse.  
  
"Gaia, get Rodney, TJ and Ashley, I'll get an emergency kit for you," Marianne turned around, a cold undertone in her voice.  
  
Sarah looked at her, startled by the voice, and expression. She had never seen Marianne like this before, it was scaring her a bit, actually.  
  
"You're coming with us?" Sarah finally asked her friend.  
  
"No, I'll have a little fun here. Buy you four some time," Marianne recognized the look on Sarah's face all too well, "I'll be right behind you. I have no intention of dying, not gonna let Gun get out of marrying me that easily."  
  
"Gun will have my head if I leave you here," Sarah objected forcefully.  
  
"Grant me this, Gaia, and don't make me order you. You know I will. I can keep them here for days," Marianne looked pleadingly, "it's only logical. You stand a better chance at protecting them, I stand a better chance in buying you time."  
  
"Just don't buy it with your life," Sarah hugged Marianne tightly, "if you do, I'll kill you."  
  
"Don't worry. I'll give them a little trip through Wonderland," the look on Marianne's face was one with a strange, cold anger, "American McGee's style." (A/N: sorry, I like that game.)  
  
"I'll get them," Sarah nodded, and quickly left.  
  
While her eyes were glued onto the screens in front of her, Marianne activated the cell-phone and dialed the number needed.  
  
"Arizona 2 is under attack. I repeat: Arizona 2 is under attack. Do NOT, I repeat NOT, send help. We can get out on our own. There are only three, leaders not counting, five leaders counting. The attackers... it's the governement," with that, she disconnected. Arizona 2, that was, technically, the name for her safehouse.  
  
_- = At the island = -_  
  
"Professor Xavier? Could we have a moment, please? There is something you need to know," a young man approached the professor, he could hardly be over 25, yet he seemed to be in charge of the security of the island, which Logan had only barely accepted. His name was Arthur, Xavier believed.  
  
"Is something wrong?" the professor had a difficult time accepting the fact that his school had been forced to go into hiding. But part of him had accepted that fact even before it became necesary.  
  
"A safehouse has been attacked, Arizona 2, to be precise. Fantasy's safehouse. I thought you'd like to know," Arthur started to leave again, before Xavier stopped him.  
  
"Who will be put on the rescue mission?" he asked the young man.  
  
"No one," he didn't have time to turn around before Logan slammed him into the wall.  
  
"What did you say?" he asked Arthur, a threat clear in his voice. Dismemberment came to mind, Xavier noted, as Logan broadcasted quite clearly what he would do if the answer would be the same.  
  
"Fantasy ordered to have no one come. There are only five there, herself and the other leader counting. It would be unwise to risk an entire group for five. I am not saying I agree, MISTER Logan, but as it is, this is most certainly not going well for us. Fantasy is very well capable of taking care of herself, and I have pity for those who dare cross her," Arthur replied stiffly, and Logan relented.  
  
Marianne hated every bit of violence and was completely inept at fighting, they all knew that, but her mutation, even though it didn't seem much in the beginning, and she still disliked using it in great proportions, but she was capable enough to do some serious damage.  
  
_- = Arizona 2 = -  
_  
Marianne was hiding, she hated hiding. Well that and the fact that her current hiding place seemed to be covered in dust.  
  
"I really should clean this once everything has settled again," she murmurred soundlessly.  
  
Sarah would be taking the three others too safety through one of the many hidden exits the house possessed, and she would follow. But first, she listened carefully, then the sound of glass breaking, but first they would show the attackers just why you did not mess with Marianne Jong.  
  
The room she was in was hidden from everything in the house. No one would find her here.  
  
"This is my home, my sanctity," she whispered, "I will not allow you to defile it with blood, but entering this house with ill intentions has a price. Your sanity. Check it at the door, when you leave, you may take it back."  
  
It was a rule in their safehouse. Fights, however disliked, were common in a house where people lived, even temporarily, while under emotional stress. It was still not allowed, but the punishment was not so severe as entering the house with ill intentions. To take refuge in the house and willingly destroy it. Or just willingly destroy it.  
  
And as the house was invaded, looking for people to take captive, Marianne put her mutation to work. Unleashing the nightmares she had seen, focussing all her anger and bitterness into the energy she would need to keep it up for three hours, after that, she would go after Sarah.  
  
In the main room, a girl took form, dressed in a black, elaborate gown, pure black eyes, pure black hair and an ivory white skin.  
  
"I welcome you," the girl curtsied, as if not seeing the weaponry, "and invite you to see what you unleash upon us."  
  
Before any of the invaders could respond, she was gone and they... they were caught in a nightmare beyond believe.


	3. Arizona 2 under attack 2

Agent-G: I'd feel sorry for those guys... and yeah, Logan is putting up a rescue mission of his own.  
  
Fire inu: just one thing: lol.  
  
**A/N**: Jenn is a girl who shortly appeared in Just a Girl, chapter 15, the first story ever in my Mutant Underground Universe. Also, it gets a little dark in this chapter, I'd suggest a flash-light ;).

* * *

_**Shattered Resistance - Arizona 2 under attack 2**_  
  
Sarah had never rushed so hard on anything as she had rushed TJ, Rodney and Ashley to a hide-out. She wasn't following Marianne's orders, but she'd be damned if she would leave Marianne behind, if she would leave Marianne to face those... no. She couldn't call them men, men didn't invade houses where people were housed who had been wounded physically and mentally for a fact in which they didn't have a choice.  
  
"Are you sure you don't need us to help?" Ashley asked Sarah once more.  
  
"Fantasy staid behind to ensure your getting away. She would never forgive me if you would go back," Sarah shook her head, "Just stay here and stay safe, we'll be coming for you."  
  
Sarah didn't give either one of the three time to argue before she hurried back as fast as she could. It had taken them one hour to reach the hide-out. That place was undocumented, and only the permanent team of Arizona 2 knew of it.  
  
'God, Marianne, please be allright, don't let 'm drive you over the edge,' Sarah silently prayed. So much was being destroyed today, she wouldn't be able to take if her friend would be destroyed too.  
  
Sarah knew it was better that Marianne had staid behind, if she had been the one who had staid behind, all that would be left of those... those monsters would be crispies. Yet another thing Marianne had kept in mind, Sarah noted. That woman always tried to do what was best for her friends.  
  
_- = Arizona 2 = -_  
  
Marianne sat pressed into a corner of the secret room, hand pressed tightly over her ears, trying to keep the screams out, fighting to maintain in control of the countless illusions she had summoned.  
  
Downstairs, in one of the rec-rooms, only two of the invaders had made it that far in that direction, came face to face with a little girl, dressed in an eery white gown.  
  
"My name is Jenn," she spoke on a sing-song tone, "people like you killed me. Do you like it?" slowly, her skin began to strip away and blood dripped onto the ground as she stepped closer, "do you like to hunt people down for something they can't control? Do you like to kill children? To take their parents from them? To take every... last... bit of sanity from them?"  
  
The child's voice changed from the sing-song to a broken, high, angry screeching sound, her white gown changing bloodred as she advanced towards the invaders. They stepped back on wobbly legs, somehow freezing up by the sight in front of them.  
  
The girl was still walking towards them, her eyes big an maddingly innocent.  
  
"You want to kill us... in the end, you'll only kill yourself. We are your future. You shall join us in evolution in your own pace, but killing us will do you no good. Deny us life, deny yourself your future..." she reached out her hands and touched them, the illusion disappeared, but in their mind, the two felt what the girl had been subjected to before she had died. And they screamed.  
  
_- = The island = -  
_  
"Chuck, I don't care. She can order all she want, I'm goin' ta get 'r outta there. She can be all the Underground doc she can be, but she was one of ours," Logan argued with Xavier about going to rescue Marianne.  
  
"I agree with you, Logan, but how are you going to get there? Scot took the jet to help out in getting mutants to safety, and there is no other way off of the island at the moment. I am truely sorry," Xavier shook his head.  
  
"Well, Chuck, sorry won't help us none now. Unless it's them bein' sorry, very sorry," the other man stomped out of the room, to directly come face to face with Rogue.  
  
"Ah had a talk with David, the guy in charge heah, he says we can go, but we've gotta get our own transportation. We ain't gonna let Marianne face it alone, are we?" she asked him, a defiant glint in her eyes that promised hell to pay if they weren't going to help Marianne.  
  
"She ordered for no help," Logan grumbled, "I ain't someone who takes orders. An' you?"  
  
"Me neither. We made a mistake when we didn' go look fer 'r durin' that first mission, ain't gonna make that one twice. Ah know someone who might bring us ta 'r," Rogue motioned Logan to follow her, "Driftah agreed ta take us theah, but he won' be able ta pick us up. He's nearly exhausted as it is, an' he'll be bringin' in the last batch o' refugees aftah he dropped us o'."  
  
_- = With Michael = -_  
  
"Tank, you allright?" Michael called out as he saw his friend stagger back from gun fire.  
  
"Invulnerabilty act goin' on, I'm better then fine," the man called back, "In fact, I'm seriously pissed of right now!"  
  
Things were most definately not going good. Michael knew that now already. Half of the safehouses hadn't been informed yet, they were unbelieveably outnumbered. It was as if they were fated to lose in protecting that safehouse behind them.  
  
That was when the message came, a boy, small and lean, came running up to Michael.  
  
"They say..." the boy gasped for breath while Michael tried to hide him from the enemy, "they say Arizona 2 has been attacked."  
  
For one second, Michael's world shattered, but he quickly grabbed himself together: Marianne was strong, she would be more then fine. She would have known before the attack had beguyn and would have got everyone out. He knew she would, he could feel it in his heart. After that, he felt just what Tank had said about being pissed of.  
  
"Go back inside," Michael urged the boy, then turned to Tank, "Arizona 2!"  
  
Something flashed acrosse Tank's face, and as far as Michael was concerned, it was nothing too pleasant. Now all he had to do was point Tank in the correct direction when the big man would go beserk.  
  
"So they think they can break us, don't they?" Michael whispered, "Let's see how they like being broken."  
  
There was enough debry that was small enough for him to use as projectiles. He did not use it to kill, but if it would, he would not mourn for them any less then they mourned for the mutants they had killed already.  
  
"It is only your own medicine I shove down your throat, let's see how you like it."  
  
_- = Arizona 2 = -  
_  
It was too easy.  
  
It was far too easy. The invaders didn't stand a chance against her illusions. They didn't know how to defend themselves against it. Couldn't.  
  
Marianne pressed herself against the wall, not afraid of those who had invaded her home, the place where she should be safe on all accounts. She was afraid of herself. They couldn't touch her if they couldn't see her, couldn't harm her if their sanity was ripped to shreads.  
  
And that was what scared her. She could rip their sanity apart like a vulture picking at a body. Did that make her like them? No, she shook her head resolutely, she was only responding. Turning the other cheek would now only result in countless of deaths. If she had to give up her soul to prevent that, then so be it.  
  
"Thinking too much again," she warned herself, "it'll make me go crazy, thinking like that. I'm not selling my soul. They did. They sold their own souls the moment they choose to blindly follow orders without thinking of consequenses."  
  
The screaming had stopped a while ago, what were they up to? They had left the house, Marianne was quite sure of it.  
  
Carefully, soundlessly, she snuck out of her hidingplace, ignoring the places of blood where the invaders had shot in blind panick, to only hit teammates. Did they mourn for their injured teammates? Marianne was sure of it, then why couldn't they mourn for them? The only real difference was one gene, that one gene that enabled mutants to have their powers. Why didn't they mourn the wrong-doing upon their own kind?  
  
However, not half way down the hall, Marianne stumbled upon something she had rather not see.  
  
"You've gotta be kiddin' me. Boom again? I'm getting to old for this and I'm only 22!" she groaned, recognizing the charge and turned on her heels, running as fast as she could towards the nearest secret exit in the house.  
  
"God forsaken cowards. 'Gee, let's just blow the place up, nothing better to do', what do they have in their skulls? Air? No... Lead perhaps, to thick in the head to think for themselves and stand open to reason," Marianne huffed while running.  
  
Good thing Michael insisted that everyone practiced enough. She had always hated running, but having a house blow up on you, no matter how she was used to Ben's explosions, was enough incentive to run as fast as she could.  
  
Marianne opened the door to the secret exit in the basement, it appeared to be part of the wall, but she knew better. It slammed shut behind her as she rushed through the narrow hallway.  
  
"I don't know what it is with things exploding on me, but this will damned well be the last time or I'll show 'm an explosion," she grumbled, relieved that she had made it so quickly through the narrow hall to the surface.  
  
Just as Marianne crawled onto the surface, a safe distance between her and the house, it exploded.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the end of Arizona 2," she found comfort of in the sarcastic exterior she so often saw others use and fell down to the ground on her knees, "I am most definately too old for this. Or too sane. Whatever."


	4. In ruins

Agent-G: the timezone I'm in is plus1 hour, don't know if that is useful or anything. And as for where it is going, I have the skeleton planned out, but I also had that for Just A Girl, and that did not contain Marianne's 'death'...  
  
D-M-N-W-T: for my e-mail, just click on the nice link that says 'e-mail' on my profile, for your review: as much as it pains me to say this, but Van does have a point. Next question: who gave it to him?

* * *

_**Shattered Resistance - In ruins.  
**_  
Logan stumbled out of the 'gateway' Joey had created for him and Rogue to get to Arziona 2 as fast as possible. He did not like that kinda travelling, no, most definately not. It was complete nothing, the gateway, he felt nothing, saw nothing. Joey had told them to just keep walking straight ahead, and when they felt something again, they were out.  
  
"O mah god," Rogue gasped besides him as she saw the ruins of Arizona in the distance.  
  
"Shit," Logan cursed, followed by some more colourfull reactions, and raced towards the ruins, not waiting for either Rogue or Joey.  
  
Joey's face had got a pale colour as he looked upon the ruins, then shook his head: "it was... to be expected. Casualties were bound to fall on both sides. I... I need to get that... last batch of refugees now."  
  
The young man turned around and disappeared through a small gateway.  
  
"Casualties, Ah'll give 'm casualties!" Rogue seethed at Joey's reaction, "she's still alive, she hasta be. P'haps she wasn' even heah when it happened."  
  
Behind them, Sarah had come running, she had seen the gateway open from a distance, and when she saw Logan and Rogue come out of it, she had started running again. As she neared the two, the third one had left again through one of those gateways.  
  
"Rogue..." Sarah gasped for breath, "Fantasy... she staid behind to buy us time."  
  
"O brothah," Rogue groaned, worry crossing her features, "Ah really needta talk ta 'r 'bout those self-destructive tendencies o' 'r."  
  
Sarah sweeped her eyes over the land, and stopped when she saw something moving behind a rock, slightly. Her eyes narrowed: enemy or friend? Logan apparently noticed this too, and made his way quickly towards the person. He had smelled death in the ruins, but it wasn't Marianne who was dead. That much was certain.  
  
"Hey Logan," he picked the whisper up with his hearing before he could even clearly make out who it was.  
  
"Hey kid, I saw ya had a little party," he grinned gruffly at her, relieved to see she wasn't wounded, or worse.  
  
"Next time I'll invite you," she smiled tiredly at her mentor.  
  
"Why not this time?"  
  
'O-oh,' rang through Marianne's mind, the look on Logan's face obviously telling her he felt betrayed by the fact she hadn't told him when she had tol Xavier.  
  
"If I could have, I would, Logan. But we didn't know that they were this far, this organized, this many," tears threatened to spill, "The four of us, Michael, Sidney, Desiree and me... we found out. But of all, I only trusted Michael completely. Sidney and Desiree only trusted themselves completely. We made a list with all safehouses each of us would inform, and a closed list of who would be informed by those we informed. Stepping out of that list... either informing those we shouldn't or failing to inform those we should... We put execution as punishment."  
  
Marianne's hand dug into the soil, remembering how they had put up the contract between the four of them. The punishment was rash, but it was the only way they could trust eachother, if their lives depended on it. And she had made a promise not to break it, as did Michael, and neither of them had ever broken a promise.  
  
"As I was a connection to the Institute, to the X-Men, we expected they would come after you too, and that was the only reason I was allowed to inform Xavier. You have to believe me, if I could have, I would have warned everyone, but I couldn't," she was crying now, realising that by agreeing to that, no matter how many would be saved by it, those she held dearest could still very well have been hurt, killed or worse. Nothing was worse then being captured.  
  
"It's allright, Marianne," Sarah had made it to the two, and kneeled next to the young woman, hugging her tightly, "everything will be allright."  
  
"Ha!" Marianne let out a sarcastic laugh and shot up, pacing furiously around, "we're being prosecuted Sarah! Prosecuted for something we CAN'T help! I might very well have driven the invaders to madness, may very well have been instrumental to deaths of countless people. Now you tell me how it will allright! Because I'd like to damn well find out how it is going to be allright!"  
  
"Marianne," Sarah cautiously approached the angry woman, "calm down, you're only exhausting yourself further, we need you."  
  
Marianne stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Sarah, all rage leaking from her expression and was replaced by grief and pain.  
  
"We..." she shook her head to regain focuss on matters at hand, "we should get to TJ, Rodney and Ashley, strength in numbers. Then we should try and get to the Institute. If we make it there, we can see what we do further. But this... this has to be fixed."  
  
"How? How are we gonna fix this? Ah wouldn' know how," Rogue looked around, for the first time fully grasping the seriousness of their situation.  
  
"I'm working on it," a defiant spark was added to her expression, her hope restored, for the time being.  
  
Silence overtook the group as they began to walk in the direction of the hide-out.  
  
How was Michael? Marianne asked herself, was he allright? Hurt? Worried for her?  
  
What would they do when they got to the Institute? Another question, but this, Marianne could answer. There, they could set up an emergency post for mutants, to act as safehaven while Mutant Underground had failed. And she could get in touch with Desiree and Sidney with whom she could formulate a plan to put a stop to this and hopefully ensure a protection for mutants for as long as they could.  
  
What would happen after that? Probably the rebuild of Underground, only now she would have a say in it.  
  
When they arrived at the hide-out, Logan went further to get to the town and get a van, Marianne couldn't walk any further. The countless illusions and nightmares she had created in the safehouse had already drained her, her emotional outburst had only weakened her further.  
  
"Do ya think we'll make it?" Rogue asked Sarah quietly, casting a worried glance at Marianne who was seated against the wall, eyes closed.  
  
"Yes, what else is there to believe in? If we doubt it, we'll never get there. Hope gives life, or so I'm told," Sarah smiled mirthfully, keeping her eyes on Marianne.  
  
It was silent for a while, no one spoke. Suddenly, Marianne rose, her eyes opened and there was a clearity in them that could only be described as eery. There was no pain in them, no grief, no guilt. Only reason and determination. It scared Sarah.  
  
"Ashley, TJ, Rodney," she started, "you have three options now: 1 you go with us, 2 you go with Ben and Luka once they get here, 3 you try to make it on your own. We are going to go to the X-Men Institute. If you stay with us, you have strength in numbers, but we have no one to fall back on, we are alone. If you go with Ben and Luka, you will be brought to one of the evac-posts, you'll be safe, for as long as it can be. If you're alone, and play your cards right, you should be able to make it for a while. What is your choice?"  
  
The three looked from side to side before Ashley replied for the lot of them: "if there's gonna be a fight, we're gonna stick around. You all did a lot for us, now it's our turn we help you out."  
  
Marianne smiled at that and nodded. All three of them had an active mutation, Ashley could predict moves up to five minutes in advance, if she wanted to know. TJ could take energy from anything around him and use that energy for anything he wished, either forming objects, or using it as pure energy. Rodney's was a kind of mutation that would still enable him to keep up appearances as a normal human, but his involvement in protecting a young mutant had put him in danger. Basically, he was able to use more of his brain then normal humans. Which made him one hell of a smart guy. He didn't look like it, though.  
  
Ashley had been brought in after she had been, accidentally, mixed up in some Underground business and actually wasn't a refugee, she had been placed in the safehouse to learn how one was kept running, so she could be in a team for a new one. She was rather normal built, with blonde hair, cut very short, and brown eyes.  
  
The last one was TJ, the guy was too tall then was good for him, red hair and green eyes. Michael had managed to make sure that TJ hadn't been beaten to death by mutant haters, but he had still been forced to remain in the infirmary for quite a while.  
  
"You're all terrific," she directed warmly at the five others in the room, Rogue and Sarah counting, "Mutant Undergrounds is in ruins, but we're better then that. They won't get us to give up." 


	5. Hope and freedom

Agent-G: my problem is that my characters write themselves, it appears. Glad you liked the reasons, hope Vincent will understand too, much later.  
  
D-M-N-W-T: you're really worrying me with those reviews, though I do love reading them. A lot. And in the response to your last review, I asked who gave Van the point? How could he come up with one on his own?

* * *

_**Shattered Resistance - Hope and freedom**_  
  
Marianne seriously doubted that the van Logan had acquered had been legally bought, but right now, she didn't mind one bit. She was a bit too busy with other things, like staying alive while seperated from the others.  
  
One minute they had driving through a town, next minute, they were in the middle of a riot, and Marianne had done one of those things that, at the moment seemed very good, but the next minute seemed very, very bad. And by now, she was already in the next minute.  
  
"I think I'm in a little trouble," she whispered quietly to herself, while trying to avoid getting any attention.  
  
"Hey look here," Marianne groaned mentally, ofcourse that didn't work. She felt a hand grab her roughly by the arm and she was pulled up to come face to face with a man.  
  
"You know, they do have something against bad breath these days," she said the first thing that came to her mind. That earned her a hard slap across the face. 'I oughta learn to keep my stupid mouth shut,' she violently winced at the slap.  
  
"Let me go this instance or you'll be very sorry," Marianne turned her face back to her attacker, all emotion drained from her face and she was hit again across the face, this time she tasted a tangy liquid, her blood. Very nice.  
  
"I think we'll have a little fun," he leered at her and Marianne blanched: no way... allright, the guy seemed quite capable of doing so. She panicked, and that panic triggered something she hadn't done in a very long time, since she had been 18, actually. She used her mutation in the most destructive way possible and subjected the man to his worst fear untill death.  
  
Perhaps she couldn't control her power that well because of her extensive use of it in Arizona 2, the shields had weakened, her control with it. But fact was: she killed the man.  
  
The man's face turned pale, his eyes widened and his grip on her arms loosened so she could pull free before he collapsed. Before Marianne even realised what she was doing, she ran as fast as she could from the place. Brushing the blood away that trickled down the corner of her mouth. About three minutes later, she was stopped by another man, before she could see who he was, she violently pulled away from him.  
  
"Petite! What be yo' doin' 'ere?" the voice was familiar, she looked up to see Remy, "what happened t' yo'?"  
  
"A... a man... thought he could have some... some 'fun' with me," she said, gasping for breath, "Underground... it's gone Remy. We were betrayed, attacked."  
  
"Merde!" Remy cursed in return, "come, petite, Remy 'ave a safeplace untill dis all be over."  
  
"What... what are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be with Magneto or something gloating how we failed?" Marianne asked him as Remy guided her to this safe place.  
  
"Petite, Remy be owin' yo', so he won' take offense, but Remy never be gloatin' on misfortune on his friends. An' ol' Mags dissapeared," he replied, guiding the young woman to an old house. There was another man standing in the door opening. Orange hair, Marianne noted. Pyro, or St. John Allerdyce. Nice. Logan would have fieldday: first chewing her out for getting seperated from the group, and then found in company of two ex-Acolytes.  
  
"Who's the Sheila, mate?" John walked towards them.  
  
"Dis be Marianne Jong, doctor Marianne Jong," Remy quickly introduced her.  
  
"I am... was with Mutant Underground, I treated Remy a while back and he helped us fix something," the young doctor settled down on the floor and looked back up at the two ex-Acolytes, "wanna hear the story?"  
  
"Great! Story time!" John fiddled with his lighter, one look from Marianne got Remy to take it away from him.  
  
"I... I can't tell you everything. But I can tell what happened. Just before the whole dimensional-rift-thingy," John raised an eyebrow at that, "Remy'll tell ya. Well, anyway, me an' some other people found out something going on. And we prepared. Not good enough, apparently. Sarah, three others and me were left behind, waiting for a next evac. Didn't work out like that. Let's just say Arizona 2 is no more. And now we're making our way to the Institute. Who are also gone," was it just her, or was her voice wavering that much?  
  
"Not dead-gone, just evacuated-gone. Right now, people are fighting to save mutants, right now, my... my fiancé could be hurt or worse and I wouldn't even know anything for sure. And I have to keep myself from thinking about it because otherwise I'm certifiably ready for the loony-bin. So right now, my main concern is getting my group to the Institue and then find a way to fix this damned mess," no, her voice was wavering, "and I don't KNOW how to fix it. I don't know how ANYONE could fix it. All I know is how to save as many as I can."  
  
She got to her feet, and made to say something, but thought better of it.  
  
'Michael, I can't do this alone. Tell me what to do. You're the one who does this,' she thought to herself, 'you're the one who sees things for what they are. Always did.'  
  
"Petite, yo' fixed dem dimension-crap, yo' can fix dis too," Remy voted his confidence in her quickly.  
  
"That... that was easy," Marianne couldn't believe she was saying this, but she was, "that was science, logic and I had help," she tapped the side of her head, "Emily, remember? She ain't here anymore, and even if she was, I don't think she could help. How do you change the minds of thousands of people? How do you change hate into acceptance?"  
  
"Remy always t'ink, small t'ings matter, non?"  
  
"I hope so, Remy, I hope so," she smiled softly at the two of them, "I don't know if you'd be interested, but I think you'd be welcome to join us in going to the Institute. Strength in numbers is one of the few things we've got going for us."  
  
"Do I get to flame?" was the first question John asked.  
  
"Yes. Just try to keep damages to a minimum. Right now, the first priority is to have as many mutants make it out of this alive as we can. Now, shall we go?" looks were exchanged, untill Remy nodded.  
  
"Logan is gonna skin me alive," Marianne groaned, rolling her eyes when she saw John get out another lighter, "unless I become an extra crispy first."  
  
As it turned out later, Logan didn't have as much trouble with it as Rogue and Sarah did. Then again, Marianne figured that Rogue wasn't too happy with seeing Remy again. Not that Marianne couldn't blame her.  
  
Remy got his hands on another car, upon Sarah's advise. The idea was, after all, that everyone got to the Institute in, more or less, one piece. Having John sliced into tid-bits did not fit into that plan, nor would it fit in to have Remy completely drained by Rogue after getting onto her bad side, again. So they had Ashley, John and Remy following in a car.  
  
It was as if they were having a race with as finish the Institute, they tried their hardest to get there as fast as they could, unfortunately, a pure male trait raised its ugly head: direction, and not wanting to ask for them. Which caused them to lose time, from then on, TJ was no longer allowed to read a map, seeing as his reading the map upside down had got them lost. And Logan being a stubborn moron that had lost them time.  
  
Getting supplies was pretty difficult, since none of them had any cash, and withdrawing cash from an account was near impossible, they were all known mutants, they all had ties to Underground, save for John and Remy, but they were labeled as terrorists, so when Remy came with food, there were no questions asked.  
  
It was Ashley who had made the remark that if humanity didn't want them, they didn't need to abide their rules, they're main concern was staying alive.  
  
Things settled in, what seemed, a steady pace. Everyone knew what to do, when to do it and to keep their eyes and ears open for anyone who might need their help.  
  
This pace was disturbed after a few days, by the ringing of the phone, Marianne's phone, the one that kept them in touch with the resistance. Four pairs of eyes immediately fixed themselves onto Marianne in the van, while Logan kept his eyes on the road. Hesitantly, Marianne opened it.  
  
"Fantasy," she said, then was silent, Sarah inwardly cursed as she saw Marianne's expression freeze, grow emotionless. That never was a good thing: when Marianne went on auto-pilot, something bad had happened. It was actually a defense-mechanism, to keep her mutation from going hay-wire when something extremely bad happened to her. And it worked, most of the time.  
  
The young doctor was slightly shaking as she hung up and put the phone down.  
  
"It... it was T... Tank," she uttered, "M... Michael has gone... missing. They don't know what happened to him, he was leading a group... going after some guys who had kidnapped a mutant, three of them came back, all heavily wounded, one of them is still... still critical. Michael and two others are still missing."  
  
Sarah, who was seated next to Marianne, quickly hugged the young doctor tightly, not letting go but also noticing Marianne wasn't responding.  
  
"He's allright," Marianne silently whispered.  
  
Sarah didn't have the heart to take hope away from her: those who had made it back had been heavily wounded! She couldn't even think of what had happened to those who hadn't made it back.  
  
"He's allright," Marianne whispered again, "he's hurting, he's wounded, but his heart still beats, he still breathes, he's still free and he still hopes."  
  
"How do you know that?" TJ asked her quietly.  
  
She turned her head, a wavering smile upon her face: "I can feel it in my heart. He is my heart and I am his."  
  
"As long as there is freedom and hope," Sarah nodded, letting go of Marianne, "as long as that is there, anyone will be allright."  
  
The rest of the day, the voyage was quiet...


	6. First Victim

OOC: cries school is being impossible! I'm so sorry about the lack of updates! 

D-M-N-W-T: tell Van to be carefull with sharp points, especially when made out of wood, and Marianne has given him a hug ;)

Agent-G: yeah, well, she cares a great deal about Michael, even though they fight on occasion.

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**_Shattered Resistance - First Victim_**

Marianne looked around herself, at the group she was travelling with, a sadness growing inside of her, but strangely enough accompanied by a quiet, calm rage. What had they got into? That they had travelled for days was showing on them, big time.

The group looked worse for wear, dirty, tired and some of them wounded.

Remy had a rather deep gash on his upper left arm, coming from a fight he had been while getting some supplies and had his glasses knocked off, Marianne had cleaned and bandaged it as good as she was able to, but she still thought it needed stitches.

John had a bump the size of an egg on the back of his head, there was something to be said about the defense of women with a heavy bag. John was still muttering over the 'paranoid old hag' who had wacked him over the head with a particular heavy bag because he stopped her asking if she had a lighter.

Ashley had some nasty looking scrapes and bruises, luckily with her, they were just that. Marianne hadn't dared to ask why the woman had got into a fight with that man, except that Ashley had told her that within five minutes, that man would have done something very stupid.

While TJ had the worst: he had broken his arm, in a very idiotic accident: he had mis-calculated the distance between the van and the ground, fallen and had broken his arm. They had managed to get him into a hospital to have it set, only to have to sneak out, because they couldn't risk being identified as mutants.

They were getting close. And they were having one problem. One very huge, unmistakable problem: Rodney had disappeared, with the car. Under very suspicious circumstance. Now, the group wasn't moving one inch from location. They weren't sure if they were walking into an ambush, but couldn't take the risk, not in their current condition.

Logan was growling, TJ sat, moping, in the van: Rodney had been one of his friends, Ashley seemed about ready to maim, Sarah to kill, Rogue, Remy and John varied between these four while Marianne seemed a complete blank, but her eyes betrayed differently: she was livid, and she was forming a plan.

"Wolverine, Rogue, Gaia, walk with me, please," she suddenly spoke up, motioning the three to follow her, when they were out of hearing range, she began to explain her plan, "Rogue, how far is it from here to the Institute by foot?"

"Half a day, whah?" Rogue looked suspiciously at her.

"Because you and Gaia are going to be taking them there, but using a very different route. Don't interrupt me, Rogue, I know what I'm doing, sorta," Marianne near winced at the glare she got, "you're goal will be getting Gambit, Pyro, Ashley and TJ to the Institute, if you come across any other mutant who needs help, I don't care if it's the Moving Speedvio... errr... Quicksilver himself. Wolverine and I will be having a bit of fun with the ambush, should there be one."

Of the three, Logan was the first to object: "Fantasy, ya ain't gonna do that. Ya're no fighter an' ya know it."

"Yeah, let meh go with Wolverine, Ah can quickly drain 'm," Rogue was the second, and Sarah would have closed the line had Marianne not silenced her with a glare.

"If Rodney did betray us, he is my responsibility and I will deal with him accordingly. He was not an X-Men, and of the former Underground here, I am in charge. That makes him my responsibility, and his punishment will also be devised by me," Marianne said in a cold tone of voice.

"You're scarin' me, Fantasy," Sarah looked, slightly disturbed at her friend.

"It's not my intention to scare you," Marianne shook her head, as if trying to shrug something away, "look, as far as I can tell, I'm the only one around here who can make it seem as if we're still with the entire group in order to create a distraction. Face it, when you need to create a distraction, I'm the one to go to. And I'm asking Logan to go along with me, just to make sure I make it out of it in one piece."

Sarah had serious doubts about it, it seemed a little too suicidal for her tastes, and she was still worried about how Marianne was taking Michael's being missing. She really wanted to believe Marianne's conviction in Michael being free and alive, but she found she couldn't, and Marianne talking about him like he had just told her he was fine only served to spook Sarah even more.

"I mean, I still have to kick Gun's butt for having me worried like this. Although I'm quite sure he won't be very happy when he hears about this," Marianne chuckled slightly at the thought of the lectures she was going to get when Michael found out everything she had done, which was exactly what he had told her not to do.

"We can't change yer mind?" Logan finally asked.

"Don't think there is much left to change," the young doctor replied dryly, "allright then. Gaia, Rogue get there, and when you're there, don't even think about coming back for us. You two are the only real defense they have. Gambit can't use his left arm too much, that wound isn't healing well, you can completely count TJ out untill his arm has healed, Pyro, well, he's too much a risk in a fight and Ashley doesn't have much of fighting powers, other then hand-to-hand. You lock the Mansion down without the self-destruct sequence."

There was a look in Marianne's eyes, it told them to not argue, to do as they were told. It was nearly as if this was not Marianne anymore, but someone completely different, yet there was still a glint of the one they knew inside her gaze, a bit of hope and vulnerability, and memories of an innocence long forgotten.

Logan was the first to grumble his approval of the plan, even though it was barely a plan. But barely a plan was better then no plan any day. Logan just hoped he could explain to Michael just why he let the younger man's fiancée walk into an ambush willingly and knowingly. Then again, his healing factor should buy him some time. Against an irate Michael. He could handle a pissed of Michael, a Michael who just found out Logan agreed to putting Marianne in danger, he didn't even wanted to think about.

Like Marianne, Logan did believe that Michael was free and save, the guy was too damn stubborn to give up and unless there was a body, Logan wasn't counting anyone out.

Finally, after a while, Sarah and Rogue nodded too, though Sara's was with with a resignated shrugg. She wasn't agreeing with Marianne, but the young doctor was in charge and even though Underground was probably gone, clinging to the chain of command made it all a bit easier on Sarah.

So all that was left was inform the injured batch just what was going to happen. Which didn't go too well, over all. On the otherside, it was encouraging that they had become a real group instead of travelling together for convenience.

"WHAT?! No! No way!" Ashley was the first to object, near screaming, which had John wincing, his headache had not yet deminished.

"Remy agrees, no' leavin' 'nyone behind," Remy nodded.

"You're not leaving anyone behind. I have to do something for Underground, Wolverine is going with me for protection," the lie rolled of Marianne's lips with ease, so much ease that it would have worried her, had she given herself the time to think about it. There was no time to think about it and perhaps that was for the better.

"We'll get to the Institute," Sarah rested her hand on Marianne's shoulder, making sure that her voice was as firm as if she was giving an order. They couldn't be divided in opinions, not when they had so much going against them already. Sarah knew that Marianne wouldn't do anything to get herself hurt, too much was depending on her, but Sarah also knew that if Rodney had indeed betrayed them, there needed to be damage control, Marianne would do that, there would be no way of talking her out of this.

The fact that Logan was going with her seemed to settle the group, even though Marianne didn't say just why she had to do that with just Logan, or what she was going to do. Knowing that Logan'd be there was enough, since they all knew that anyone trying to harm one of their group would have to find a way through his claws, she'd be safe enough.

There weren't many things to take, so soon, Marianne stood there, saying goodbye for the time being, she hoped, to her friends.

"Promise me," she asked quietly of them, "you'll be careful, don't engage in any conflict, just get to the Institute, get the security online, fully and wait for us. Give Wolverine and me two days to get there, if we're not there by then..." she almost said they'd be lost then, but corrected herself on the last minute, "something came up."

"We promise, ya jus' take car o' yerself," Rogue nodded softly at Marianne, understanding very well what she meant. She didn't like it, but the odds were, however small, in her favour, between her own illusions and the anger Rogue was certain she had inside for quite a while now, with everything that had happened, from the destruction of the safehouse to having to sneak TJ out of a hospital, those guys wouldn't know what hit them, she almost felt sorry for them.

They didn't have much time left, though, and their 'see-you-laters' were cut short. Having to walk so far with an injured group and needing to avoid conflict didn't leave them with a lot of time to get to the Institute before nightfall.

Marianne and Logan looked on as theyr friends left on the changed route. Marrianne's arms were crossed over her chest as she looked at them go, forcing herself to remember that this was necesary. Michael had gone too, and he was missing now, still alive, still free, she could feel it, but feeling it wasn't enough, not by far. She cared so deeply for everyone, losing one would be too much.

Still, she had lied to them, most of them anyway, to make sure they wouldn't get hurt, true. But a lie was a lie. Marianna shook her head slightly to drive the thoughts from her head: she had no time to think of such things, no time at all. If she would allow herself to linger on things like that, she'd never manage to complete her tasks. Never manage to find Michael again.

"Wolverine?" Marianne suddenly spoke up, not able to push the thought away from her mind, something she had heard a long time ago, it seemed, everything seemed to have been so long ago, "can you tell me why the first victim is always truth?"


	7. Who are you!

Agent-G: _hums mantra_ Just two more months, two months before finals are done with _still humming_

Prophet-Song: Thanks! Uhm yeah, I know updates have been sparse, then again: so has time. Every time I thought I shook RL off of my tail, it jumped me again!

* * *

_**Shattered Resistance - Who are you!**_

Rogue Worried, she did it with such an ardor, that it simply deserved to be spoken with a capital, in fact, if she worried even more, it would be spelled out in capitals. She was cursing herself for letting Marianne leave with only Logan for protection against whatever the ambush would be. In fact: she cursed herself for letting the young doctor go all together. Just one quick tap would have had her drained enough for Marianne to not be able to go, Rogue would, temporarily have her powers and she'd be able to take care of business. But no, she'd have to listen to Marianne.

Honestly, though, that was only part of her reason for the deep scowl on her face. Remy, otherwise known as Gambit, or rather the pain in the universe's neck, was her other reason. No matter the cut in his arm, no matter the threats of Rogue to knock him out, permanently, no matter Ashley's attempts to bring truth to that threat he kept on being... well... Remy.

There were plenty of other things to worry about, like where Pyro kept pulling the lighters and matches from, how they were going to get food, where Magneto was, besides laughing his bucket-head off. No, she'd rather think about the most painful ways she'd kill Remy, and then do it again, if so possible, would there be enough pieces left of him.

"PYRO! Put the lighter DOWN!" Rogue winced at hearing Sarah yell at the end of the line at John, Rogue still couldn't help the slight smirk at the irony: for someone who could control, among others, fire, Sarah sure had little to no control over John.

Five... four... three... two... one... Rogue counted mentally.

"OW! Ey Sheila, that hurt!"

"Good."

A few muttered choice words followed from John's mouth, but Rogue could practically see the glare Sarah was giving him. All in all, she'd be happy once she saw the Institute. She'd be extatic when she was inside and absolutely delirious with joy once Marianne and Logan got back. Alright, maybe that was a bit much, she gave in to her mind, but she wouldn't feel even remotely at ease untill they were one group again.

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, forcing herself to ignore John until he once again became a thread. In other words, when he found another lighter. It was unbelievable how he always managed to get another lighter. How many had she taken from him by now? And there just came more and more. She'd rather face Ben's out of control robots again rather then be stuck in the back with that idiot. Or try and make Tank see reason over something, facing Marianne after she and Tank had another... dispute in the kitchen. Anything but this. Cruel and unusual punishment, that was what this was.

"He'd be 'avin' more," Remy murmured quietly from his place in the group, so quietly no one heard it. He was actually having fun at the exasperation that began to take over the woman. These people got far too serious, it was just a little bit to the Institute. Whatever happened to 'always look on the bright side of life'?

Feeling bored, he took out his deck of cards and strolled up to the front, where Rogue was, ignoring Ashley's 'ready to kill and maim'-look. He didn't really get why everyone was so serious: sure, things were down right awful, but it could be worse. They could have been caught totally by surprise, could've been captured, or even killed very very slowly. Yeah, those were all pretty high on the 'don't want that to happen'-list.

"Ah, chere," Remy drawled, shuffling the cards in his hands.

"No!" was the only, growled reply he got.

He raised his eyebrows at Rogue: absorbed a bit too much Wolverine, perhaps? That couldn't be good for anyone. He wouldn't like a Wolverine in his head, Remy shuddered just at the thought of it.

"Awww, but you don' know what Remy wanted to do," he took a whiney note in his voice.

"No, Ah don' wanna play yer stupid card tricks," Rogue ground out, tugging at her glove. She had taken of the necklace that negated her powers for then, just to be on the safe side. She found it took a bit of time for her power to get back to its ussual potential, time they often didn't have in fights.

Before Remy could retaliate, however, Ashly jumped in between.

"If I were you, Gambit," she said crispily, "I'd be gettin' my ass outta here, 'cause in five minutes you'll be havin' 'bout as much life in yourself as a papersheet," with that, she tapped the side of her head, giving the suggestion she'd seen it with her power.

Remy paled slightly at that suggestion: as much as he enjoyed bugging Rogue, he also enjoyed the fact that he was alive, and with said mutant with her nerves that high-strung, the twitching or her left eyebrow, he quickly, very quickly, beat an hasty retreat. Perhaps later. Yeah, much, much later, when there was the possibility of getting a nice, big, steel wall between him and Rogue, that or an ocean.

"That'll keep 'm quiet for a while," Ashley stretched her neck, her arms crossed over her chest. There was a scowl on her face and the impressive black eye, scratches and cuts that littered every visible piece of skin, it appeared, only aided in making her look darker.

Rogua glared at the retreating pain in the universe's neck, before turning to Ashley: "Why didya hafta warn 'm? Ah wouldn' have drained 'm that much. Jus' a lil' ta put some good common sense fear inta 'm."

"Oh, was I warning him for you then? Because I sure felt like throttlin' 'm," Ashley shrugged, not particularly caring about what would happen to Remy, just as long as he shut up.

Once again, a heavy silence wrapped itself around the group of tired, weary travellers like a thick blanket, dampening even the thoughts in their minds with its cloth woven from the tiredness that resided within each and every member. Every step seemed to grow slower, taking the further away from their goal: the Institute.

Sarah looked back into the direction they'd come from more and more, obviously tempted to just go back and see if she could help Marianne. But duty kept pulling her mind back on the track. She didn't have much faith in John when it came to defending, seeing him more like a lose canon then anything else, Remy's arm was still bothering him, she could clearly see that, Ashley moved slow from the bruises and scrapes, TJ wouldn't do much good with his broken arm, so that left her and Rogue. Rogue was good, but not good enough, none of them were, to be able to go against a small, weaponed army while making sure none of the others got killed.

It seemed to take all eternity, while, in truth, it had taken half a day, the Institute was in sight.

Rogue's eyes narrowed when she saw that the security system was fully online and the Institute was locked down: odd, very odd. She didn't remember Logan saying anything about that. Maybe Scott had dropped by before them, and brought it online. Paranoid.

On the other hand, they hadn't been able to take everything with them, so much equipment had been left behind, that had to be protected, yeah, that had to be the rational explanation. What else could it be?

"What's the hold up?" Sarah asked, coming to stand next to Rogue, in front of the closed gate.

"Security system online, an' the Institute's locked down, Ah guess Cyclops got a lil' worried," Rogue shrugged, "Ah'll have us in in no time," she moved to the pad to type in her password only to come to one conclusion, "or maybe not."

"Oy, I didn' like the sound o' that, Sheila," John felt compelled to state the obvious.

"Why can't you have us in?" Sarah gritted her teeth and ignored John, she forcibly bashed in the mental red light that was flashing up an alarm-sign, repeating the mantra that 'it would all be alright'.

"It's broken," Rogue frowned, looking closely at the broken panel, someone seemed to have smashed it in with a rock, either to prevent anyone else from entering or a random act of violence. Most likely just someone being a 'big boy' and smashed the panel in with a rock or something. It didn't really matter, there was a second panel, Rogue mentally thanked Logan for his all round paranoia.

Finding the panel, however, was another story, and Rogue soon went from thanking to cursing Logan's paranoia, stupid panel was too well hidden away. The others soon found themselves watching a shaking, cursing bush, or rather: Rogue had crawled into the bush, and was cursing loudly.

"Dis be somt'in' Remy don' get to see every day," Remy murmured, tilting his head to the left while curiously observing the bush. He had to enjoy it as much as he could now, because knowing Rogue, she'd blackmail them all with the most painfull retribution should they ever spread that story. And what was the fun in spreading a story if you weren't in one piece to observe the results?

"Ya won't ever see it again, an' ya'll never ever speak 'bout it either," came from the bush as Rogue punched in the code and then came out again, twigs and leaves sticking out of her hair and a look that put Marianne's glare to shame. The gate opened, and it surprised John that it did so without any creaking or just plain refusing too. It did fit in their stroke of 'luck'.

Unknown to the group, though, their entrance did not go unnoticed and was designated as a Very. Not. Good. Thing. Things happened fast in the Mansion, people were sent down to the lowest levels, while only two remained to play 'welcome' party to the group that had just shut down the defense-system. Part of their caution was caused by the fact that the out-side video system had been demolished even before they got there, so the group inside the Institute had no idea who was outside and on what side they were. The only thing that allowed them to notice that there was someone coming in was the fact that the security system had been switched from all out to virtually non-existant.

Outside, Rogue and the other couldn't help but feel a little more at ease then they had felt in a long time. Even though they weren't inside yet, it was good to simply set foot upon the ground they had been aching to get at ever since the get go.

Half way up the lane though, Rogue froze, coming face to face to a not so welcoming looking young man: "Who the hell are ya!" she hissed.

"Vincent!" called an all too familiar voice out, and another man, too familiar for Rogue's tastes: Shadow, came scrambling from the trees, "Oh, hi Rogue... ehm... I can explain?"

* * *

A/N: Vincent is Agent-G's! I swear, I just borrowed him! Only 'cause I like Vince and like borrowing other people's OC's (the ones I like - )


End file.
